Which justices voted to strike down the Texas law in Lawrence v. Texas?
In the 2003 case Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that the Texas law criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct was unconstitutional.1
The six justices who voted to strike down the law were:
- Anthony Kennedy (who wrote the majority opinion)
- John Paul Stevens
- David Souter
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Stephen Breyer
- Sandra Day O’Connor
While all six agreed that the Texas law should be struck down, their legal reasoning differed. Justices Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer held that the law violated the due process clause and that the previous ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick should be overruled. Justice O’Connor concurred in the judgment to strike down the law based on the equal protection clause, but she did not join the majority in overruling Bowers.1
Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented, arguing that the law should have been upheld.1